Main menu

Blockchain & DLT News

Category Archives: Localbitcoins

The US has experienced its largest jump in bitcoin volume over the past week on LocalBitcoins. Over $31.5M worth of BTC was traded on the platform as bitcoin price looks set to test the $4000 resistance level next.

ATH USD Trading Volume on LocalBitcoins

Data from Coin Dance shows that USD trading volume on the popular over-the-counter bitcoin trading platform LocalBitcoins has reached its all-time high.

For the week ending on February 16th, LocalBitcoins saw traders exchange more than $31.5 million, nearly four times the amount exchanged the previous week ($8.4 million).

LocalBitcoins is a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform, which allows users to create and accept private sales of bitcoin for fiat currency and vice versa.

Bitcoinist reported that Indonesia has also seen a surge in Bitcoin through the platform.

Bitcoin Price Eyes $4000

Following the record values of USD volume traded on LocalBitcoins, the price of the cryptocurrency has also marked a notable increase.

At the time of writing this, Bitcoin (BTC) 00 has managed to gain over 8 percent in the past 24 hours.

As Bitcoinist reported, should the price manage to break towards the $4,000 level, this would show an Adam and Eve bottom pattern, which may allow for a further surge of the price towards $5,000.

It’s worth noting that Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency performing well through the weekend. In fact, the entire market has marked a substantial increase.

Data from CoinMarketiCap shows that throughout the last couple of days, the market has managed to gain upwards of $10 billion to its capitalization, an increase of around 9 percent.

Ethereum (ETH) 00 has also made notable gains spearheading the current cryptocurrency rally. This allowed it to once again reclaim its spot as the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, unseating Ripple (XRP) 00.

What do you think of the surge in USD volume on LocalBitcoins? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

Venezuela continues to reach new heights in terms of weekly Bitcoin trading volume. Meanwhile, the country’s government has issued new regulations that impose fees on Bitcoin remittance.

2,545 BTC: New Weekly Bitcoin Trading Record

According to data from Coin Dance, Venezuelans traded 2,454 BTC via Localbitcoins (the P2P trading platform) for the week ending February 9, 2018. This figure surpasses the 2,004 BTC recorded in the previous week.

Last week’s volume amounts to the highest ever recorded in the country. In terms of VES, the country’s beleaguered fiat currency, 24 billion VES worth of Bitcoin changed hands during the period, an increase of 41 percent from the week ending February 2, 2019.

With the continued political, social, economic turmoil in the Latin American state, citizens continue to rely on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for survival. The current stand-off in the political scene is sure to exacerbate further the already dire issues surrounding forex shortage and hyperinflation.

15 Percent Fee on Bitcoin Remittance

With Bitcoin trading volume soaring, state officials are getting into the action, introducing exorbitant fees on cryptocurrency remittance payments in the country.

According to the notice published on the Official Gazette 41581 on February 7, 2019, the National Superintendence of Cryptoactives and Related Activities of Venezuela (SUNACRIP) now oversees cryptocurrency-based remittance in the country.

SUNACRIP now has the power to set limits on cryptocurrency payments. An excerpt of the decree published by local crypto news media Criptonoticias, reads as follows:

The ruling defines commissions that range from 0.25 euros ($0.28) as the minimum rate per transaction, to 15% of the funds transferred in cryptocurrencies [sic]. In addition, it limits the sending of remittances to a monthly amount equivalent to 10 Petros (PTR), a cryptocurrency [sic] created by the Venezuelan Government.

The notice also establishes an upper limit for the cryptocurrency payments pegged at $3,000.

The reaction from many commentators on the matter has been unanimously negative. Imposing fees on cryptocurrency remittance is counterproductive to the essence of international payments via cryptocurrency which is the removal of exorbitant fees charged by mainstream services.

According to the World Bank, the global average remittance fees range between 5.2 percent and 9.4 percent. The SUNACRIP fee structure effectively renders crypto remittance more expensive than fiat.

This new directive comes on the heels of an earlier law that seeks to punish what the state considers unauthorized cryptocurrency use.

What’s your take on the remittance fees being imposed on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions by the Venezuelan state? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

A Florida appeals court has overturned a ruling that acquitted a Localbitcoins trader of money laundering and working as an unlicensed money transmitter.

Bitcoin No Longer ‘Poker Chips’?

As local news outlet Miami Heraldreported January 30, Michell Espinoza, who sold bitcoin worth around $1350 to an undercover police detective in 2014, will now face a jury.

Prosecutors argue Espinoza should have registered as a money transmitter before advertising services on P2P trading platform Localbitcoins. A settlement in 2016 threw out the charges after a judge agreed Bitcoin was not legally money.

“Basically, it’s poker chips that people are willing to buy from you,” a defense witness said in court at the time.

The Third District Court of Appeal, however, has other ideas.

“Espinoza’s bitcoins-for-cash business requires him to register as a payment instrument seller and money transmitter,” the Herald quotes lawmakers as saying Wednesday.

A trial date has not yet materialized.

Setting A Precedent

Espinoza’s case was complicated by the fact that the undercover officer told him he planned to use the bitcoins to buy hacked data.

Nonetheless, the implications of a potential successful conviction are significant. The case could allow law enforcement to prosecute more Localbitcoins traders if there is a reason to suspect they are engaging in “business” and not sales of “private” bitcoin holdings.

The U.S. has strived to enshrine obligations surrounding taxation and securities in law for cryptocurrency issuers and holders, but the national landscape remains patchwork.

As Bitcoinist reported, individual states have taken markedly different approaches to cryptocurrency, ranging from openly accepting to openly hostile.

Such is the headache for some businesses looking to serve the US market, exchanges including Bittrex and Coinbase have opted to segregate their domestic and non-domestic audiences by setting up entirely separate platforms.

In December, a bipartisan bill appeared in Congress aiming to exempt cryptocurrencies from securities law.

What do you think about the Miami appeals court’s decision? Let us know in the comments below!

We would like to inform that today 26.01.2019 at approximately 10:00:00 UTC, LocalBitcoins has detected a security vulnerability – an unauthorised source was able to access and send transactions from a number of affected accounts. Outgoing transactions were temporarily disabled while we investigated the case.

We were able to identify the problem, which was related to a feature powered by a third party software, and stop the attack. At the moment, we are determining the correct number of users affected – so far six cases have been confirmed. For security reasons, the forum feature has been disabled until further notice.

Outgoing transactions have already been re-enabled and we have taken a number of measures to address this issue and secure the limited number of accounts that might have been at risk.

Your LocalBitcoins accounts are currently safe to log in and use – we encourage you to enable Two-factor authentication, if you have not yet.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this might have caused.

Kind Regards, LocalBitcoins

User (u/bitcoinbabeau) shared that when users visit the platform’s forum URL, they are prompted to log into their account as if they have been logged out.

Apparently, this only happens if the user is already logged in. According to the user, the URL represents a phishing site which has the 2FA codes sent to the hacker, enabling him to empty their accounts.

According to the thread, withdrawals on the platform have been disabled. Additionally, the platform’s forum is also currently disabled.

At the time of this writing, LocalBitcoins hasn’t come up with an official statement on the matter.

$28,000 Purportedly Gone Already

Commenting on the abovementioned thread, one of the users shares that he’s probably the first to fall victim to the hacker. He revealed that 0.14 BTC have been cleaned from his account, posting the details of the transaction.

The receiving address is already up to 7.95 BTC at press time. Given the current rate of BTC (coin_price), this is roughly around $28,000.

It remains unclear whether this is this is the actual (or the only) address of the hacker.

Last year, the P2P trading platform disabled multiple accounts because of new EU privacy laws.

Have you experienced anything odd using LocalBitcoins in the last few hours? Let us know in the comments below!